Answer the following question in 3-4 complete sentences.   Explain what this painting by Antoine-Jean Gros is depicting and why it is considered an idealistic portrayal of a factual event.

Answer:

Napoleon decided to quiet the fears of the healthy after the outbreak of the bubonic plague in Europe in 1799, by visiting the sick and dying. He had Gros paint him as a Christ-like figure healing the sick with his touch, but only two months after this event Napoleon ordered the remaining sick to be poisoned. He commissioned this painting and others to further his political career.